Project risks are events or uncertain conditions that, if they occur, provoke a positive or negative effect in the project objectives. Each of the risks has a cause and, if it occurs, a consequence. Thus, a project risk analysis is typically performed at the onset of many projects to permit a team working on the project to identify and evaluate the potential problems or risks that are associated with that project. With projects of ever increasing complexity and requirements, the corresponding risk analysis becomes more complex and difficult.
Risk management consists of a systematic process for the identification, analysis and mitigation the project risks, aiming to minimize the probabilities of occurrence and/or the severity of the consequences of the adverse events to the objectives of the project. Improvements in risk management generally focus on the establishment of objective procedures that aim at risks reduction, creation of synergy between different areas for most complex risks mitigation and creation of more realistic vision of the main project deviations. In this way, the project team can try to identify and prevent a project's undesired events, thereby minimizing the impact of negative events on the project.
Typically, the risk analysis or assessment that is completed for an project is dependent on the type of project. The risk analysis is often completed using a spreadsheet or database program to simplify and provide some standardization to the risk analysis process. Even in organizations that have a standard written risk assessment procedure, different groups in the organization often make custom modifications to the standard procedure to accommodate the particular type of project worked on by the group. In other words, even where there is standard written risk assessment procedure, each group may have its own customized risk assessment procedure implemented.
Therefore, what is needed is a management application to implement a risk process for engineering that can be used by all users of an organization or company to analyze, display, monitor and store the risks assessments for a project.